Welcome to post #14 of One Simple Change: my year long series of tips dedicated to enhancing your health and your life. Sorry I’m a little late with this one, folks…last week got away from me so I couldn’t get this up on Friday as planned. Since it’s Tuesday and I am on track to have another post done this Friday, this week you’ll get a double dose of One Simple Change!

If you’ve been following along since the beginning of this series, you might remember that I wrote about “letting go” a while back. If you’re new to my blog or simply need a refresher, feel free to go read that post now.

I want to encourage you not only to clear your kitchen of foods that are not healthy- this means all packaged and processed foods, as well as all ingredients that aren’t natural- but to restock your pantry with all the staples you need to create wholesome, nourishing meals for you and those you love to feed.

According to wikipedia, “a pantry is a room where food, provisions, dishes, or linens are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. The derivation of the word is from the same source as the Old French term paneterie; that is from pain, the French form of the Latin panis for bread”.

In today’s world, a pantry can take many forms. You might have a walk-in closet adjacent to your kitchen, but you might live in a tiny apartment and just have a cabinet or two for pantry items. What I consider to be my pantry is the contents of several different cabinets in my kitchen, plus items in a re-purposed hall closet, where we built shelves in order for it to function as a pantry. Here’s a peak into one of my cabinets:

My pantry did not become fully stocked with staples overnight: it has taken a good deal of time to accumulate all the things that I now keep on hand in my kitchen. I rarely cook the same meal twice, and I like to experiment with all sorts of ethnic dishes, so I enjoy keeping lots of interesting ingredients around. But with the exception of stopping into a specialty shop like Kalustyans every six months or so to pick up things I can’t find in my town, I buy all my pantry staples locally, either at a standard grocery store or at my favorite natural foods store.

My goal with respect to my pantry is to know that I can throw together a wholesome, tasty meal with what I have on hand at any time. I want to be able to make any recipe I see online, or in a cookbook or magazine, with a very minimal amount of shopping for ingredients. Since I have so many staples, and since I am trying to make more and more homemade pantry items, I find myself needing to go to the store less frequently. I keep my own chickens for eggs, and get my milk raw from a local farm, so just need to shop for the rest of the fresh foods we need each week. And as we get into the growing season, I’ll be shopping even less from the store, and gathering more food from my garden.

Below you will find the staple items I keep in my pantry. Please know that this does not mean you need to get everything listed…far from it! Your definition of a kick-ass pantry could be quite pared down compared to mine (and if you think I am a complete lunatic, I am okay with that), but I’m just telling you what works for me. I am including refrigerated kitchen staples that aren’t super perishable on this list because I consider these pantry items, but I am not including staple dairy products or most of the things I keep in the freezer because this post is way too long as it is! I hope this is helpful, and please do let me know if my pantry is missing something really important ;)

These coconut oat sesame bites (call me childish, but I cannot bring myself to call them balls) are just the kind of thing you can throw together on a whim when you’ve got a well-stocked pantry.

My mom moved away late last week. She and I have lived in the same town for the past 10 years, and now she and her husband are off to Colorado to be near my brother and his family. It feels very strange that they’re gone, and I considered making some crazy decadent chocolate chip cookies in reaction to my sadness (never a good idea).

I went with these frozen raw cookies inspired by Elizabeth’s recipe for chocolate chia energy balls instead, however, and I am very glad that I did.

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16 Comments

I love the idea of having a pantry as well stocked as this. I use the fact that I have hardly any storage in my kitchen as an excuse to be lazy about it but it doesn’t really hold water. I can feel a kitchen organising session coming on!

I loved looking into your pantry. We share a lot of the same products :) I’m loving all your vinegars. My pantry seems to be overflowing with them at the moment. I need to start using them some more. Your bites or “balls” as I would childishly call them look delicious! Then again all your food looks amazing :)

Great list! I’ve been working on stocking my pantry for a while, and I’m still amazed every time I read a recipe and I actually have the ingredients (or something close enough). It makes cooking that much more fun. My latest breakfast put-together from a stocked pantry: leftover quinoa splashed with almond milk, prunes, dried cherries, honey, walnuts and shredded unsweetened coconut. So good!

Love this post. First time to your blog.
I just want to give a forewarning though seeing maple syrup in the pantry. Maple syrup should always be stored in the refrigerator. It will mold if not kept cold

I really appreciate all the thinking and work that went into this post! And I’m laughing because out pantries are so similar–same soy sauce, coconut milk, maple syrup, Muir Glen tomatoes, pomegranate molasses, pumpkin…ha!

good post! just a couple suggestions: have you tried sprouted flours? they are AWESOME! research them, I think you will like what you find, also, did you know that almonds are pastuerized? totally annoying, but there are places that have them totally raw. have you sprouted your nuts? very nutritious! i love your blog!! I believe in food for medicine, I actually cured myself of chrohns through diet! thanks for your hard work, Cheers.

Welcome!

Hi there! I'm Winnie. I am a published author and I create and photograph the recipes here at Healthy Green Kitchen. I am also a nutrition and strength coach, as well as a competitive powerlifter. I live in NY's Hudson Valley with my husband, kids, cats, dogs, and chickens.